Haywood Community College recognized for environmental sustainability

BOSTON (April 18, 2012)– Haywood Community College, Clyde, N.C., has been recognized for its cutting-edge work in promoting environmental sustainability by the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), an agreement between nearly 700 colleges and universities to promote sustainability through teaching and action.

Haywood earned the distinction in large part through its public/private-sector and community partnerships—and for allowing those partnerships to positively influence its coursework.

The college’s partnership with private developers, for instance, led to the creation of an associate’s degree in low-impact environmental development. Another partnership with US Forest Service Wood Products Laboratory researchers allowed the college to construct the area’s first Habitat for Humanity green home. A campus sustainability house followed that underscored Haywood’s commitment to green construction practices and technologies.

Other examples include: wetlands and native grass reclamation projects on campus and in the community; biofuel production using recycled oil from the local public schools; installation of solar panels on campus and in the community; and training workers from a community action agency to retrofit homes of low-income residents to make them more energy efficient.

The ACUPCC acknowledged Haywood’s efforts as part of its Celebrating Sustainability series, which identifies signatories that exemplify the initiative’s mission to re-stabilize the earth’s climate through education, research and community engagement. Celebrating Sustainability is formally recognizing a different institution every day in April leading up to Earth Day on April 22nd.

“The way that Haywood puts its students to work on projects that will both improve the community and augment their classroom education should serve as a model for every other institution of higher learning in the country,” said Dr. Anthony D. Cortese, president of Second Nature, the lead supporting organization of the ACUPCC. “One central goal of the ACUPCC is to get everyone to think systemically about the relationship between sustainability and education. Haywood is doing a remarkable job.”

“Haywood Community College has a robust history, dating back to 2006, of demonstrating sustainable technologies in the classroom, college operations, and community initiatives – and these relationships elevate sustainable practices on campus and in the greater community,” said Rose Johnson, president of Haywood Community College. “As a founding signatory of the ACUPCC, we are happy for our employees and students and their hard work to be recognized on a national scale.”

About Second Nature

Second Nature works to create a healthy, just, and sustainable society by transforming higher education. Second Nature is the lead supporting organization of the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, a growing network of over 675 signatory higher education institutions in all 50 states that have made a public commitment to transform the educational experience for all students so they are prepared to solve the climate crisis.

Learn more at: www.secondnature.org.

About the ACUPCC

The ACUPCC is a high-visibility effort to address global warming by garnering institutional commitments from college and universities to accelerate the education, research and community engagement to equip society to re-stabilize the earth’s climate, and eliminate net greenhouse gas emissions from their own operations.

Learn more at: www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org.

About Haywood Community College

As an open-door community-based institution, Haywood Community College strives to meet the educational and job training needs of diverse populations with varying backgrounds, goals, interests, abilities, and resources. The College provides accessible educational, training, entrepreneurial, cultural, and social opportunities that focus on current trends and foster the development of the individuals and communities it serves. Learners engage in experiential activities that join the worlds of work and learning and develop problem solving, leadership, critical thinking, and enterprise abilities.